The world’s greatest food cures come from vegetables. These natural foods are absolutely key to natural health, and a new study has just slapped a big exclamation mark on things. It found that vegetarians may be at lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
Specifically, the new study found that vegetarians experience a 36% lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome than non-vegetarians. Because metabolic syndrome can be a precursor to heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, the findings indicate that vegetarians may be at lower risk of developing these conditions.
Metabolic syndrome means that you have at least three out of five of these: high blood pressure; low HDL cholesterol; high glucose levels; elevated triglycerides; and an unhealthy waist circumference. The researchers found that, while 25% of vegetarians had metabolic syndrome, the number rises to 37% for semi-vegetarians and 39% for non-vegetarians.
Since metabolic syndrome is such a big problem in the U.S. and leads to very dangerous health situations, the researchers wanted to find lifestyle choices that people could use to prevent and even treat the disorder.
They knew there would be differences between vegetarians and those who are not, but the researchers were surprised by the significant variance between the two groups. This shows that what you elect to eat in your daily diet can be important in the prevention of metabolic syndrome.
The health news came via a study on 700 adults randomly selected from a long-term study of lifestyle and health in nearly 100,000 people. Of the 700, 35% were vegetarian. These people had lower triglyceride levels, blood sugar levels, blood pressure, waist circumference, and body mass index. Semi-vegetarians also had a significantly lower BMI and waist circumference compared to those who ate meat more regularly.
This works once again to show that diet improves so many of the serious risk factors that put you at risk of heart disease. People who choose a plant-based diet are making a wise choice for health. While becoming a vegetarian may be difficult for most, choosing to ramp up vegetables in the diet is not hard at all.